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(ed:..this debate was also raging in the nz labour party not that long ago – things have been quiet lately – but that could just indicate a lack of media-coverage – hard to see how those fervently-held beliefs on both sides would have at all dissipated..

so clearly that is also still bubbling away here – making the following piece relevant for the players in those factions in this part of the world..)

(excerpt..)

Neither identity politics nor economic populism can return the Democrats to power on their own.

We need solidarity.

People in rural and small-town America know the dangers of industry consolidation better than anyone – having seen it strip away the livelihoods of independent farmers and local banks and merchants long before most city slickers even realized that corporate concentration was an issue.

All this points to a simple conclusion: Democrats should make fighting monopolies the central organizing principle of their economic agenda.

This approach holds the promise of bringing together groups that seem inherently at odds: nativists and cosmopolitans – fundamentalists and secularists – urbanites and rural dwellers.

The strongest reason to think this could work is – quite simply – that it has worked before.

A century ago agrarian populists and big-city progressives united around a common opposition to monopoly – forming a movement that dominated American politics for decades and helped deliver a broadly shared prosperity.

Because the economic landscape today is strikingly similar to what it was a hundred years ago – there’s every reason to believe that the conditions are right for a similar alliance to arise again.

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(ed: the new zealand labour party is hobbled by the same problem identified here..

in that most/the party hierarchy still (despite the widespread contradicting evidence to hand) accept/believe in the neoliberal politics of roger douglas (our thatcher)..

and that neoliberal-incrementalism has a death-grip on the party is proven by their ‘free’ education policy..(in that said ‘free’ education will only kick in after labour has been elected three consecutive times..(!)..)

so the young people/voters labour is supposedly aiming this policy at – they will be in their 30’s by then – and laden with student debt – when this policy kicks in..

and labour thinks this is a ‘winner’..?…this delayed-gratification..?..are you kidding me..?

i have to admit that when i first heard of this policy from labour my first thought was : ‘are they having a laff..?’…

and those – like me – who were (albeit briefly) excited by the success of corbyns’ ‘socialist’ policies – and believed that nz labour would also pivot to this proven popular set of policies..we are guaranteed to be disappointed..

all nz labour has done since corbyns example is run like the wind from any suggestion those poverty/inequality drivers also apply here/are relevant to new zealand..and how going corbyn would be a winning formula for them..

so neoliberalism is still what drives/explains the nz labour party..

and i really think that in the interests of openness/transparency – that labour should change their election slogan to:

‘what do we want..?’

– ‘free education’

‘when do we want it?’ –

‘in nine years’…

and as a heads-up! for nz labour – yes – we/nz’ers do want change – but we want it now/sooner than nine years/3 elections into the future..eh..?..)

(excerpt..)

If they hadn’t bottled it in their final poll on the eve of the election YouGov would have been one of just two pollsters – along with Survation – to correctly predict the outcome of the general election.

So we should pay some attention to YouGov’s recent poll too which found 43 per cent of the British public agree that a socialist government would make Britain a better place to live – compared to just 36 per cent who thought the opposite.

When Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour Party in 2015 mainstream political commentators – Labour activists and MPs had serious reservations- predicated on the understanding that in order to be ‘electable’ Labour has to accept the economic assumptions of Thatcherism.

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(ed: i am sure the stats here in new zealand will tell a similar story…

of victorian pictures/tales of misery/hopelessness..

and this in a country as rich as new zealand is..

and in these far from victorian times – not one of our citizens should be staring down that head/body-fucking abyss that is longterm poverty/homelessness..

but of course we cannot forget that as far as those who are holding the power to effect these needed changes – there is not much to be seen..

from either labour or the tories..

and yes..it is great that smaller parties have progressive policies/beliefs..but until one or other of the major parties take them on board – they remain just pipe-dreams – nothing will happen/change..

and as for the tories -as a group/institutionally-speaking – they just ‘don’t care’..(going on their history/record – surely we can take that as a given..?)

which brings us to our only other option – labour..

and i don’t know what annoys me more – the tories being quite nonchalant in that (when/wherever possible) ‘fuck-the-poor!’ ethos/mindset..

or labour..who pretend to care..but who in recent decades/memory have mouthed the words..then done just the opposite..or nothing..

and labour had better not forget that is where they are coming from..(and which explains their trump-core/true-believers’ poll-numbers/support..)

and they have to show/prove (the easiest way of course is by corbanesque policies/promises) running up to the election..that they truly are the harbingers of change we so desperately need..

and they have yet to begin that process..

and just quietly – more money for health..more money for education..building some more houses..worthy tho’ they may be in their own right..sure as hell ain’t gonna set the electorate alight…that much i do know..

and then you consider the pillar of their education-policy – some free tertiary-education if we elect them now..and then re-elect them twice more..(!)..(which has to set a new benchmark in neoliberal-incrementalism/delayed-gratification..)

so..they had better get a rattle on/start burning the midnight (policy) lamp..eh..?..

‘cos if they don’t..and if they just serve up those same-old same-old lukewarm/tasteless centrist/incrementalist policies they have until now..?

well then they will more than likely just hand the election to the tories..

or at the very least shrink nearer the size of those (likely to expand into that policy-vacuum they have left) minor parties they need to have any chance to win office..

still first – but first amongst those those much more equal to them than now)

(excerpt..)

The number of families being declared homeless has rocketed by more a third since the Conservatives took power in 2010, analysis of new official statistics by The Independent has revealed. Between April 2016 and March 2017, 59,100 families were declared homeless by local authorities in England – a rise of 34 per cent on the same period in 2010-11. The statistics paint a bleak picture of the UK housing crisis and the impact a lack of decent, affordable homes is having on thousands of families.